Music gets the message over

Rising above the cacophony of the creatures at Natureland zoo on a recent summer day the notes of a catchy song about New Zealand's native tuatara ring out.

"Kia kaha tuatara o Takapourewa. All aboard like an early Noah, I rafted clinging to Aotearoa. A special place that I could roam, the only place that I call home."

Hundreds of school children from Victory Primary School dressed as colourful jungle animals preen and prance to the tune delivered with polish.

"Music is the key to allowing children to connect. It is a universal language. It can stir emotion and can help young people remember," the singer, Richmond teacher and musician John Phillips says later, in the studio in the basement of his home in Richmond.

He has been dubbed the "poet laureate" of the Spinyback Tuatara Trust for his input into raising awareness through the song he wrote for it.

His song Kia Kaha Tuatara O Takapourewa, which means "be strong, our Stephen's Island tuatara", helped the recent launch of a roadshow about the reptile, run by the Spinyback Tuatara Trust in partnership with Natureland, Ngati Koata and the Department of Conservation. Waimea Estates wine company sponsors the tuatara trust involving Ngati Koata iwi, who are guardians of the tuatara living on Takapourewa, or Stephens Island.

Mr Phillips says the seeds of the song were sown by Victory School teacher Louisa Paul, who had recently completed a Royal Society of New Zealand teacher fellowship. Her work was aimed at increasing her knowledge of tuatara, which included development of the educational roadshow for school children. She approached Mr Phillips and asked him to write a song.

The lyrics endear people to the special nature of the tuatara and how it's managed to survive eons when plenty of other species haven't. Or, as the song puts it: "With scaly skin and peaks on my back, I'm a prehistoric artefact. I've lived through ice, lived through blizzard, but I'm a reptile – I ain't no lizard."

Mr Phillips is a trained primary school teacher who grew up in Blenheim, but made the move eight years ago while teaching at Springlands Primary School in Blenheim to follow his love of music and branch out in a new direction.

He began working as a music specialist for different schools in Marlborough, and was able to "import" the concept when he and his wife Therese shifted their family to Richmond two years ago.

He moved here without a job, but approached schools and offered them his specialist music teaching concept and they came on board fairly quickly.

He now spends two days a week at Victory Primary School, two days at St Paul's School in Richmond and one day at Brightwater School.

Mr Phillips has written and recorded four albums of original music for mainstream and integrated schools. His album, Lost Property Box, was a finalist in the 2001 NZ Tui Music Awards for best children's album. Backing vocals on his songs are provided by the voices of his immediate and wider family, who all share a strong interest in music.

His work is also found in the learning media publication Kiwikidsongs for which he has written My Dad Loves His Rugby, The Lost Property Box, Bad Hair Day, Ma Te Mahi Ka Ora and The Wobbly Tooth.

He has also produced two albums of liturgical music.

Mr Phillips uses the term "family-based music" to describe what he does. "I try to write on two levels. The key to it is to get the adults into the song – a bit like what Shrek and Sesame Street have done.

"I always write for an audience. I want them to sing but have a giggle too."

He is also influenced by the musical talents of his three children, especially those of his son Chris Phillips, a member of Garin College band Chill Factor – regional finalists in last year's Smokefreerockquest.

"I see in schools all the talent that's out there ... They blow me away how well they do," Mr Phillips says.

"At least 1000 kids a week come through my programme. That's a lot of little lives to have an impact on."

High Achievers is a weekly feature about somebody who has done well. If you know somebody who should be profiled, contact geoffc@nelsonmail.co.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News